Evaluating the contribution of satellite measurements to the re-construction of three-dimensional ocean temperature fields in combination with Argo profiles

Assimilation systems absorb both satellite measurements and Argo observations. This assimilation is essential to diagnose and evaluate the contribution from each type of data to the reconstructed analysis, allowing for better configuration of assimilation parameters. To achieve this, two comparative reconstruction schemes were designed under the optimal interpolation framework. Using a static scheme, an in situ-only field of ocean temperature was derived by correcting climatology with only Argo ...     

Diagnostics with the Hanle effect

The Hanle effect has been extensively used for the determination of the magnetic field strength and direction in solar prominences. Here we address the problem of the diagnostics of weak magnetic fields in the solar photosphere and chromosphere by means of their Hanle effect in some selected absorption lines. As this is a relatively new area we will focus on the diagnostic methods and summarize some results that relate to the presence of a weak, turbulent magnetic field in the photosphere and to the chromospheric magnetic canopy. Finally we will outline some directions for future work.     

冕洞边界区磁结构的探讨──Ⅱ．太阳活动20、21周的冕洞及其边界区磁结构的变化

本文分析讨论了太阳活动２０、２１周的冕洞及其边界区磁结构的变化。它包括：冕洞区光球磁场强度、磁极性的变化；冕洞面积与高速太阳风风速的关系；冕洞边界周围的环境。重点探讨太阳活动下降、极小相低纬、赤道冕洞区与其边界区磁结构的变化。     

Introduction to plasma astrophysics and cosmology

The year 1996 marks the Centennial Celebration of the founding of Plasma Astrophysics and Cosmology; its origins may be traced to the seminal research first published by Kristian Birkeland in 1896. This special workshop issue reports on advances in issues of importance to the plasma universe; topics as timely as when first raised a century ago.     

Air-flow geometry in air sparging of fine-grained sands

Laboratory visualization experiments in fine- to very fine-grained sands (grain diameter <0.21 mm) reveal a previously unrecognized air-flow geometry. This air-flow geometry is termed "chamber flow" and is characterized by: (1) a significant horizontal component, (2) pervasive air-flow coverage within a region demarcated by a distinct, irregular boundary, and (3) the presence of predominantly vertical inlet and outlet channels. The attributes of chamber flow differ significantly from channelized flow and pervasive/bubbly flow, which occur at larger grain sizes and have been described in the literature by several researchers. Previous research, which indicates a dramatic increase in contaminant removal time in sediments <0.2 mm, indirectly corroborates the phenomena observed in this study. The extent of sediment column affected by chamber flow of sparge air ranges from 4–54% on an area basis, and is approximately 28% on a volume basis. These values indicate that chamber air flow has the potential to affect a much larger percentage of the sediment column than either channelized or pervasive/bubbly flow. Because of the irregularity of air-flow chambers, in terms of both form and frequency, a detailed knowledge of stratigraphy is important to maximize air-sparging efficiency at sites where chamber flow is likely to occur. Electronic Publication     

青藏高原北部地区中强震前磁偏角短临异常特征分析

分析自1987年以来青藏高原北部地区各地磁台地磁偏角在Ms≥5．0级以上地震前的变化特征,结果显示：在离各地磁台300h以内的中强地震前地磁D分量会在短期内出现异常现象(可通过斜率值和相对速率值变化提取异常信息),该异常对地震发生时间和地点的判断具有实用价值,而对震级的判断较差,异常可显示中期向短期过渡的判别指标：斜率值或相对速率值超过预定的警戒值视为异常,异常大都在震前2个月至1个月前后的时间内出现。     

1400-year cold/warm fluctuations reflected by environmental magnetism of a lake sediment core from the Chen Co, southern Tibet, China

Lake Chen Co, situated at 90°33–39E, 28°53–59N with a lake level of 4420 m asl, is an enclosed lake with 148 km² of catchment area and 40 km² of lake surface. It is mainly supplied by glacier melt water either from surface inflow or groundwater. Atmospheric precipitation is mainly concentrated in June–September. A 216-cm long lake sediment core was obtained at a site with 8 m of water depth, 800 m from the lakeshore and 1.5% of the bottom slope in this lake. The sediment core was taken by a piston sampler and was sliced with an interval of 1 cm each. ²¹⁰Pb dating measurement suggested that the average sedimentary rate was 0.16 cm yr^–1, which also was confirmed by ¹³⁷Cs peak occurrence. Magnetic analyses included low-frequency dependent susceptibility (_LF), susceptibility of anhysteretic remanent magnetism (_ARM), the saturation isothermal remanent magnetism (SIRM), the isothermal remanent magnetism (IRM) reverse and Soft and Hard contents were performed for the sediment core. Results showed that _LF was an index for reflecting the environmental conditions, but was not sufficient to reveal details of magnetic features. This had been proved by measurements of IRM Reverse percentage and Soft and Hard magnetic minerals values. The log(SIRM/_LF) had much more information to reveal environmental changes. The _ARM/_LF might be more sensitive to the local environmental conditions because it was well able to indicate the grain-size variations of magnetic particles. In the past ca. 1400 years, the warm stages were ca. 620–740 AD, 1120–1370 AD and since ca. 1900 AD. After an intensively cold stage during ca. 1550–1690 AD, a cold-humid stage from ca. 1690–1900 AD and a warm-dry stage since ca. 1900 AD followed. Among these stages, the warmest one occurred in ca. 1120–1370 AD and the coldest stage was between ca. 1550 and 1690 AD. This result might be compared with many other research results from lake cores, ice cores and the Chinese historical documents.     

GHOST – A Novel Airborne Gas Chromatograph for In Situ Measurements of Long-Lived Tracers in the Lower Stratosphere: Method and Applications

A novel fully-automated airborne gas chromatograph for in situmeasurements of long-lived stratospheric tracers hasbeen developed, combining the high selectivity of a megabore PLOTcapillary column with recently developed sampling and separationtechniques. The Gas cHromatograph for theObservation of Stratospheric Tracers (GHOST)has been successfully operated during three STREAM campaigns(Stratosphere TRoposphere Experiment byAirborne Measurement) onboard a Cessna Citation IIaircraft in two different modes: Either N₂O andCF₂Cl₂(CFC-12) or CFC-12 and CFCl₃ (CFC-11) have been measuredsimultaneously, with a time resolution of 2 min for both modes.Under flight conditions the instrument precision (1) forthese species is better than 0.9%, and the accuracy(1) is better than 2.0% of the tropospheric values ofall measured compounds. The detection limits (3) arebelow 28 ppb for N₂O, 14 ppt for CFC-12, and 8 ppt forCFC-11, respectively, i.e., well below 10 % of the troposphericvalues of all measured compounds. Post-mission optimization of thechromatographic separation showed a possible enhancement of thetime resolution by up to a factor of 2, associated with acomparable increase in precision and detection limit. As test ofactual performance of GHOST results from an in-flight N₂Ointercomparison with a tunable diode laser absorptionspectrometer (TDLAS) are presented. They yield an excellentagreement between both instruments. Furthermore, on the basis ofthe hitherto most extensive set of upper tropospheric and lowerstratospheric data, the relative stratospheric N₂2O lifetime isre-assessed. When referenced to the WMO reference CFC-11 lifetimeof 45 ± 7 years an N₂O lifetime of 91 ± 15 yearsis derived, a value substantially smaller than the WMO referencelifetime of 120 years. Moreover, this value implies astratospheric N₂O sink strength of 16.3 ± 2.7 Tg (N)yr^–1 which is 30% larger than previous estimates.     

南极普里兹湾NP93－2柱样磁组构特征及其古气候意义

对采自东南极普里兹湾海区沉积物ＮＰ９３－２柱样系统的磁组构分析，结果表明：１．普里兹湾海洋沉积物具有较大的磁化率各向异性，较好地指示了沉积过程中水动力过程的变化；２．由磁化率各向异性主轴方向确定的古水流方面主要为近ＥＷ向及ＮＳ向，分别对应着南极绕极环流的方向及由融冰水的大量生成而导致的南极底层水形成的方向，这两种不同方向的水流在该海区不同时段的表现各不相同；３．依据表征磁组构的参数及古水流方向的变化，可将１２７００ａＢ．Ｐ．以来的南极地区的古气候分成５个古气候变化带．     

扬子克拉通太古代崆岭群角闪岩相与麻粒岩相岩石的岩石磁学研究

提供了扬子克拉通太古代基底崆岭群２０件代表性岩石样品的密度与磁性参数的测量结果．结果表明，变碎屑岩与ＴＴＧ（英云闪长－奥长花岗－花岗间长质）片麻岩（１３个样品）的磁化率与饱和剩磁普遍大于斜长角闪岩和辉长岩．前者的磁化率与饱和剩磁平均值分别为１２１３×１０^－６ＳＩ与１９．９４Ａ／ｍ，而后者的则为８０２×１０^－６ＳＩ与１０．７７Ａ／ｍ．变碎屑岩与ＴＴＧ片麻岩呈明显的亚铁磁性状态；斜长角闪岩和辉长岩则以顺磁性或顺磁性与亚铁磁性混合状态分布为主．热磁分析结果表明，变碎屑岩与ＴＴＧ片麻岩的剩磁载体以磁铁矿与磁赤铁矿为主；斜长角门岩和辉长岩则明显含有磁黄铁矿与次要的磁铁矿．变碎屑岩与ＴＴＧ片麻岩的磁性具有很强的非均一性．推断崆岭群中的变碎屑岩为麻粒岩相变质级，视深度相当于大陆下地壳；而斜长角闪岩的变质级明显低于变碎屑岩，可能为角门岩相，视深度相当于中地壳．变碎屑岩与ＴＴＧ片麻岩磁性的强非均一性可能与该区后期广泛发生的混合岩化作用密切相关。